During a speech in the first-in-the-nation caucus state, left wing demonstrators interrupted his talk and demanded he answer questions about his past support for stop-and-frisk policing practices, tone-deaf comments about women and his wealth.

The outburst erupted in a room filed with local luminaries and politicians who were there to see a documentary film produced by Bloomberg’s philanthropic outfit – but were also taking the opportunity to size up New York’s former mayor as a potential 2020 presidential contender.

“Do you want to have another billionaire as president?” shouted Kaleb Van Fosson, 24, as he was escorted from the room.

Another, Sara Castro, stood up to ask a question about stop-and-frisk. After attempting to ignore the query, Bloomberg offered to speak with Castro, a 19-year-old student at Grennell College, afterward. But the questions kept coming and the police at the event removed them, leaving Bloomberg to joke that he felt like he was back home in New York.

The second set of protesters then stood and began to protest Bloomberg’s reported investment in a Willett Advisers, which has holdings in energy companies, though it’s unclear if any of Bloomberg’s money is invested in companies that frack.

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Bloomberg joked once more, remarking that he was once told that if he had a 90 percent approval rating as mayor that “would still mean that 840,000 New Yorkers would not like me.”

He added, in a dig to the protesters: “Anyways, thank you for joining us.”

The protests were organized, in part, by the Central Iowa chapter of the Democratic Socialists. The national organization has been fiercely critical of moderates and wealthy politicians – like Bloomberg.

And in interviews afterward, it was clear that Bloomberg’s billions – earned from building a media and technology empire – were central to the protester’s objections to the former mayor.